The Lowdown: No. 23 Southwestern College at No. 7 Friends University

Location: Adair-Austin Stadium             

Kickoff: Oct. 24 @ 1 PM

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Flying with the Falcons (7-0 1-0 KCAC Bissell): The No. 7-ranked Friends University Falcons made a resounding national statement with a 48-24 road victory at then No. 12-ranked McPherson College last Saturday (Oct. 17). The Falcons fell behind 10-0 early but proceeded to score 35 of the game's next 42 points to take command, starting with a 99-yard kickoff return by Michael Lopez that began to flip the script. Read the full game recap of the Falcons' victory at McPherson HERE!

Elon Conley (504 yards), E'derian Sykes (465 yards), Walker Overman (449 yards), Michael Lopez (388 yards), Nick Cordova (382 yards and Joey Millspaugh (344 yards) have each surpassed the 300-yard rushing mark to lead an extremely balanced Falcon ground attack this season that also features seven rushers with at least 200 yards on the ground.

Walker Overman has thrown eight touchdown passes on the season with 364 yards. DJ Dingle has also seen action and has passed for five touchdowns and 237 yards. DJ Pearson leads the Falcon receiving corps with 161 yards and five receptions, with four of those catches going for touchdowns.  Samuel Becker is second on the Falcons with three receiving touchdowns on the season.

Tyson Wallace leads the Falcon defense with 49 tackles and is tied with Cale Milleson, Jake Lucky and Kevin Myers for the team lead with seven tackles for loss. Milleson has a team-high five sacks, while Zamarion Manuel, Cooper Skrobecki and Mikah Rocco each have two interceptions this season.

The Falcons are currently tops in the NAIA in points per game (63.4) and rushing yards per game (444.1). Defensively, the Falcons are leading the nation in fumble recoveries (11) and are tied for first in defensive touchdowns (five) while ranking fifth in tackles for loss (64). Individually, Michael Lopez is first in the NAIA in kick return average (44.3), second in punt return average (21.2) and third in in all-purpose yards (1192, with Connor Tillman (64) ranking second in kicking points.

Scouting the Moundbuilders: The No. 23-ranked Southwestern College Moundbuilders have won four straight and are now 6-1 this season after a 31-10 win over Sterling College last Saturday. The Builders' only setback was 31-13 at (RV) Evangel University back on Sept. 12.

James Odom has 11 touchdown passes and 1324 yards, with Christian Steward powering the ground game and ranking fifth in the NAIA in rushing yards (810). Bryce Chambers is tops on the team in receptions (33) and receiving yards (471), with Steward catching a team-high four touchdowns on the season.

Adrian Avelar leads the defense with 46 tackles and is tied with Carl Malvo for the team lead in sacks (two). Jackson Meadows is pacing the Builders with four interceptions this season.

The Series: The Falcons outdueled the Builders 42-28 on the road last season for their third straight win in the series. Friends is 16-6 vs. Southwestern overall since 2004 and is 9-3 in Wichita during that stretch.

Dondlinger Construction: We are proud to have Dondlinger Construction as a top sponsor of Friends University Athletics this season!  Click HERE to visit their official website and learn more on the services Dondlinger can offer!

What a Rush: For the second straight week, the Falcons will attempt to corral a top five running back in the NAIA.  Last week it was the top rusher in McPherson's Jalil Brown, this week it'll be Christian Steward of Southwestern, who ranks fifth in the NAIA in rushing yards (810). Brown gained 110 yards last week, but the Falcons held him in check with just 36 yards after a 74-yard first quarter.

Always Bouncing Back: Even though the opponent has scored first in three games this season, the Falcons have shook it off each time and led at halftime in all seven outings on the way to a perfect 7-0 mark on the season.

Top Honors: E'derian Sykes earned KCAC Offensive Player of the Week honors and Michael Lopez received the KCAC Special Teams Player of the Week nod following huge performances in last week's 48-24 victory at McPherson College. Read the full release HERE!

Highest Scoring Team in the Land: The Falcons are averaging an NAIA-leading 63.4 points per game this season. The 66 points per game is tops in all of College Football, now leading NCAA D-III's Lake Forest (62.4) by a full point.  

Rushing to More History: The Falcons accumulated a NAIA single-season record 5,351 rushing yards in 2024 under head coach Terry Harrison's pristine flexbone offensive system only to break their own mark last season with 5,979 rushing yards.

Rush Hour: The Falcons have led the NAIA in rushing in all four years of head coach Terry's Harrison's tenure. This rushing success particularly correlates with Harrison, as he's now coached the last seven NAIA team leaders in rushing (his last three years at Bethel and all four seasons at Friends). The Falcons are at it again this season with a NAIA-leading 444.1 yards per game on the ground.

Falcons by the Numbers:

Overall: 7-0

KCAC Bissell Division: 1-0

Home: 3-0

Away: 4-0

The Falcons record when …

Scoring 0-9 points: 0-0

Scoring 10-19 points: 0-0

Scoring 20-29 points: 0-0

Scoring 30-39 points: 0-0

Scoring 40-49 points: 2-0

Scoring 50 + points: 5-0

Allowing 0-9 points: 0-0

Allowing 10-19 points: 3-0

Allowing 20-29 points: 3-0

Allowing 30-39 points: 0-0

Allowing 40-49 points: 1-0

Allowing 50+ points: 0-0

Scoring first: 4-0

Opponent scores first: 3-0

Leading at halftime: 7-0

Trailing at halftime: 0-0

Tied at halftime: 0-0

Committing fewer turnovers: 5-0

Committing more turnovers: 0-0

Turnovers are even: 2-0

Leading in total offense: 7-0

Trailing in total offense: 0-0

Winning time of possession: 6-0

Losing time of possession: 1-0

The Coaches:

Terry Harrison enters his fifth season as the Friends University head football coach and has transformed the Falcons into a legitimate national contender and a consistent conference title threat.

Harrison appeared to be the perfect choice to lead the Falcon program and has done nothing to change that perception in now his fifth season at the helm.

He has earned consecutive KCAC Coach of the Year honors after guiding the Falcons to back-to-back conference titles and a program-record 12 wins in 2025.

This past season saw the Falcons lead all four-year college football in points per game (54.2 ppg) and advance to the NAIA FCS quarterfinal round for the first time in program history.

In his four seasons thus far, Harrison has overseen the NAIA's top rushing offense in total yards and yards per game. The Falcons also broke their own NAIA single-season rushing record with 5,979 rushing yards last season.

Individual players continued to thrive under Harrison's tutelage, with quarterback K'Vonte Baker winning his third KCAC Player of the Year award last year and Kyree Watkins being named the KCAC Offensive Lineman of the Year. 

In 2024, the Falcons' progression reached its apex with the program's first conference title since 2008 and first NAIA FCS Playoff victory in school history. Harrison earned KCAC Kessinger Division and Victory Sports Network (VSN) NAIA Coach of the Year honors after guiding the Falcons to an 11-2 record for the team's most wins in the modern era. 

Under Harrison, Baker was named the KCAC Kessinger Division Co-Offensive Player of the Year and offensive lineman Watkins was selected as a first-team AFCA NAIA Coaches' All-American. Overall, the Falcons averaged 411.6 rushing yards per game, nearly 100 yards ahead of the next closest team (Taylor, 311.7) while also rushing for a nation-leading 58 touchdowns last season.

The 2023 season saw Harrison guide the Falcons to their first winning record since 2014 (9-2) and coach 20 All-KCAC players, including KCAC Player of the Year K'Vonte Baker along with NAIA All-American and Rimington Award winner Keegan Martin.

Harrison arrived on campus after transforming fellow KCAC member Bethel College into a conference and national power.

After taking over a Bethel program in 2018 that was 1-9 and at the bottom of the league the previous season, Harrison's impact was felt immediately as he installed the flexbone offense and guided the team to finish third in the NAIA in rushing offense (274.4) per game.

The following season, Harrison would begin to affect the wins column by leading the Threshers to a second-place showing in the KCAC with an 8-3 overall record. Bethel continued to climb the leaderboard nationally, finishing tops in the NAIA in total rushing offense (4,084) and rushing offense per game (371.3) while ranking third in passing efficiency (180.3).

The best was yet to come as the next season, Harrison and the Threshers captured a Co-KCAC regular season championship and an NAIA national playoff berth to wind up No. 13 in the final NAIA FirstDown PlayBook Top 25 poll. The conference championship was the Threshers' first since 2007 and the national playoff appearance represented the first since the 2006 campaign and only the third in school history.

Once again, Harrison's squad set the standard nationally in rushing, leading the country in both total rushing offense (3828) and rushing offense per game (348.0) for the second consecutive season.

Harrison had the Threshers rolling again this year with a 9-2 overall record and a 9-1 league mark that netted the squad their second consecutive co-KCAC regular season title along with a final NAIA national ranking of 17th.

Harrison is embarking on his second go-round as a head coach of the Falcons in Wichita, as he spent five seasons as the head coach of the Wichita Heights High School Falcons.  At Heights, Harrison guided the team to four Kansas 5A regional titles, a district championship and a Greater-Area Wichita-League title along with a 38-16 overall record.  In 2016, Harrison was named the City-League Coach of the Year.

He has also received the opportunity to speak at multiple coaching clinics, with the most recent engagement being the Tulsa Glazier Mega Clinic in 2016.

Harrison was a three-year captain at Sterling College and graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor of Sciences in Physical Education and Health.  He then earned his Masters of Science in School Leadership from Baker University in 2011.

Brad Griffin is in his 12th season as head coach of the Southwestern College Moundbuilders and has guided the Builders to three KCAC conference titles and three NAIA FCS Playoff berths in the past five years, including winning a playoff game in 2024.  In 2021, Southwestern made its first NAIA FCS Playoff appearance since the 1999 season.

Before arriving at Southwestern, Griffin served 11 seasons as Defensive Coordinator at William Penn University and also worked with the linebackers.

Griffin earned the Midwest League Tri-Assistant Coach of the Year award in 2011 after his defense led the league in scoring defense and ranked second in yards allowed.    

Up Next: The Falcons will hit the road for two straight weeks, starting next Saturday (Oct. 31) at (RV) Kansas Wesleyan University for a 1 pm kickoff in Salina, Kan.